


Aftercare Is Important

by AceOnIce



Series: Kinktober 2020 [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Aftercare, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Caring Magnus Bane, Dom Magnus Bane, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Meetings, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Pre-Relationship, Sub Alec Lightwood, Subspace, by an unnamed character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:55:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce
Summary: When Alec is abandoned while in sub-space, he finds comfort in the arms of a kind stranger.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Kinktober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946230
Comments: 40
Kudos: 371





	Aftercare Is Important

**Author's Note:**

> Kinktober Day 8  
> Based on the Whumptober Prompt:  
> Abandoned
> 
> This isn't at all the fic I planned on writing, but it's the one that got written!

Alec is shaking as he leaves the dungeon room, the people and surroundings nothing but a blur that fails to hold his attention. His head feels fuzzy, his limbs light, but it’s all wrong.

He’s walking in what he thinks is the direction of the exit even though he knows he can’t drive like this. He can barely walk like this. But what choice does he have? He can’t stay here.

The sound of a whip cracking somewhere to his left has him jumping and wrapping his arms around himself. He feels vulnerable. He needs to _get out._ Except he’s still not sure where out is.

Suddenly, or maybe it’s not sudden- Alec can’t tell for sure, there’s a man blocking his path. Alec blinks at him before realizing the man’s lips are moving.

“What?” Alec manages to ask, his voice quiet. He’s not sure the guy can even hear him over the other conversations going on around them. It all sounds like white noise to Alec. He has to struggle to make out the man’s next question.

“Are you alright?”

Even when he understands it, he’s not sure how to answer. He knows he’s not okay, knows he needs _something._ Something more than he’d gotten, something the man he’d been with hadn’t bothered to give him. Something to bring him down.

The man asks another question, but Alec misses it, distracted by the shimmer of makeup on the man’s face.

Maybe it’s that there’s something kind in the man’s features, or maybe it’s that Alec’s in a state where his decision making is clearly compromised, but he finds himself suddenly on the verge of breaking down, a plea bursting from his lips before he can think better of it.

“Help, please.”

The man nods and Alec focuses hard to catch his next words. “Follow me.”

A part of Alec relaxes at the simple command, at the way in which the man demands his obedience. Normally he’d bristle at giving submission to an unknown man, but after the scene he’s just had, he can’t trust himself to be in control right now.

He follows the man back into the private rooms. Alec feels his heart quicken at the recent memories, but the man had told him to follow and Alec was going to be good, he had to be good.

The stranger opens a door to one of the rooms available and sits on the couch against the wall, gesturing to the space beside him. “Sit?”

Alec half-falls onto the couch. His head is still hazy, but he finds it a little easier to concentrate away from the noise and bustle of the club’s main area.

“You’re still in subspace?” The man guesses.

Alec nods. “I can’t- he left- and I- I can’t-”

The man shushes him, reaching out to lay a hand over his. It’s a simple, grounding touch. Alec focuses on the warmth of the other man’s hand- and the smooth surface of his rings. “I understand. I’ll help you, what do you need?”

Alec bites his lip until he tastes blood. He wants to let this man help him, but he suddenly worries he doesn’t deserve to be helped. After all, he hadn’t been good enough to keep the last Dom around.

“Alright, let’s start a simpler. Tell me your name.” It’s not a question, it’s an order. Alec does better with those- especially when he’s like this.

“Alec.”

“Short for Alexander?”

Alec nods.

“I’m Magnus.”

Alec likes the name. It suits the man before him. The beautiful man, he realizes belatedly. He’s not sure how he missed it before, but Magnus is _stunning._ He’s glittery and colorful, demanding attention, radiating an aura of power. Alec wants to kneel for him.

“Tell me, Alexander, what do you normally do for aftercare?”

 _Aftercare._ The word alone is a comfort Alec had known he’d needed, but not known how to get. Not when he’d been abandoned.

“Answer me, Alec.” Magnus’ voice gains an edge to it that has Alec shivering.

“Reassurance,” he answers automatically. “And I like to- to be held.”

Magnus lets go of his hand and Alec panics before Magnus is opening his arms. “Come here.”

Alec folds himself up on the couch so he can lay his head on the unfamiliar Dom’s lap, pressing his face into the silk shirt, making himself as small as he can.

“Can I touch you?”

Alec nods against Magnus’ stomach, “Please.”

There are fingers running through his hair, scraping against his scalp, a hand settling on his bicep. “You’re doing so well, Alexander.”

Alec doesn’t know what he’s done that’s so good, but there’s something comforting about hearing Magnus say it.

“I know we just met, but I’ve been Domming for years, I can recognize a good Sub when I see one. And you, darling- you’re absolutely perfect.”

Alec presses his face closer to Magnus’ stomach, hiding the way his eyes have filled with tears of relief.

Magnus continues like that, murmuring soft praises, soft words of affection, until Alec is openly sobbing into Magnus’ shirt, finally coming out of subspace. He’s not upset, per se, but he’s so immensely relieved for the comfort Magnus has given him, for this stranger’s kind words, that he can’t stop from crying.

When he finally comes back to himself and manages to stop crying, there’s a hint of embarrassment that goes through him as he sits up, moving away from Magnus. “Sorry. Thank you- I, I really needed that.”

“Of course, you have nothing to apologize for. You were clearly abandoned while in vulnerable position, that would mess with anyone’s head. You deserve better than that.”

Alec stares at the floor and picks at his hand. He thinks he should leave, but he doesn’t want to be alone yet. He might be back to himself, but he still feels raw.

“Do you need something to eat? Something to drink? There’s water or Gatorade.”

“Gatorade, please.”

Magnus hands him a blue bottle and Alec cracks it open to sip before taking a few longer swigs, feeling exhausted and dehydrated. He lets the cold bottle ground him and summons the courage to turn and meet Magnus’ eyes once again. He realizes now that they’re rimmed in kohl, somehow still soft despite the harsh makeup.

“Can you- I know it isn’t fair of me to ask, you’ve already helped me so much- and for no reason, you didn’t get anything out of this, but- could you… stay with me? Just for a little while?” He’s nearly whispering by the end. He has no right to ask anything more from his kind stranger and he feels guilty at even considering it. “I can’t be alone right now. I know I’m going to drop if I am and I- shit, I shouldn’t have asked, I’m sorry, thank you for everything.”

He stands and moves to leave, desperate to escape before his shame can swallow him whole, but a hand catches his wrist. “Alexander, I’d be more than happy to keep you company until you feel better. I know how… disorienting this kind of thing can be and sub drop is nothing to be taken lightly. Why don’t you sit back down and tell me about yourself?”

Despite his reservations, Alec wants nothing more than to do that. So he does. He sits and he talks and he listens and by the end of the night he has a number to call if he feels like dropping- or ‘for any reason at all’.

And a year later, Alec kneels before the kind man and accepts a gorgeous metal collar from the best Dom- the best boyfriend, the best person- he’s ever known.


End file.
